John S McCain III, not born in the United States, grew up in an old established military family and attended St. Stephen's School in Alexandria, Virginia, just outside DC. His grandfather John S McCain Sr., a full admiral, then saw to it that Johnny McCain III was admitted to the Naval Academy where he proceeded to graduate 894th out of 899 in his graduating class. Admiral McCain Sr's wife was Mary Louisa McAllister, cousin of First Lady Laura Bush's great grandmother. Upon graduation McCain the Third went got the most sought after posting in the US Navy, naval aviation. As a Vietnam pilot John McCain though himself quite smarter than his superior officers, writing that he "believed that our targets were virtually worthless. In all candor, we thought our commanders were complete idiots who didn’t have the least notion of what it took to win the war." which made it quite a shame that he had to eject over enemy territory as in his capture the Vietnamese communists certainly took one of the USA's most important officers.